Looking forward… communicating forward
By Walter Boomsma
207 343-1842
Communications Director
So here we are, several weeks into a new year. I’m always a bit overwhelmed by the changes required when that happens. But it’s also an opportunity to look forward and think about what the new year might bring. In terms of the Maine State Grange Website, this will be an informal “State of the Site” Report.
Have you noticed? All posts and pages now have an “estimated reading time” at the top. It’s a bit of an experiment with the goal of making the site more useful. The idea is to give users some idea of how long it might take to review the post or page. It’s based on “average” reading speeds, and your mileage may vary, but we’d love to know what you think of this feature.
What you aren’t seeing is some continuing “under the hood” changes. The emphasis of these changes is to increase security and improve the speed of the site. Hopefully, you’ll notice! For one thing, we are having very little “downtime” of the site–it remains available, active, and dependable.
We recently completed an audit of Pomona and Subordinate Grange Links. For those Granges who maintain their own websites or Facebook Pages, this is designed to drive traffic to you! However, we do not want to send people to a closed business–or one that has the appearance of being closed. If nothing has been posted or updated in the past year, the link is removed. As a result of the audit, we are losing at least two Facebook Pages. I do try to contact someone from the Grange involved before removing the links. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please let me know.
By the way, we recently added links to Trenton Grange’s Website and Facebook Page. Both are excellent examples of local promotion of an active, relevant Grange! Check them out!
In a similar vein, we’ve been updating the online directory of Granges with the latest Roster Information. This is an important aspect of the site–it’s how people with an interest in the Grange find someone to contact. Currently, one contact is listed with a phone number and email address (if we have them). Under consideration for this year is the possibility of adding a second contact for each Grange. It’s more to maintain, but it doubles the chance that people can reach a Grange when they are interested!
There’s lots more going on and under consideration. Thanks to those who consistently support the site by submitting events and news. As we continue to search for ways to make the site more attractive and useful, your ideas and feedback are critical! We have limited resources but literally thousands of potential reporters and contributors. Please submit information about what’s going on in your Grange! Consider writing a short article or post about something of interest to Grangers. (We’ll be saying more about this in the future.) Tell us why you love the Grange.
What have you got for us?
► FACT: It won’t be a surprise that in 2023, October was the site’s busiest month. It might be a surprise that August was second with over 2,000 views!